Ion Bogdan Vasi, an assistant sociology professor at Columbia University, calls those who personalize their plates “the narcissistic/materialist poets of the iGeneration,” reports Dena Potter in the Times-Dispatch.
Huh? I don’t know how many narcissists we have in Virginia. That sounds more like California. To my mind, most drivers with special plates are just corny punsters… or college sports enthusiasts. It tickles me to see how many inventive variations there are on UVA, Wahoo, Tech and Hokie.
Occasionally, license plates have a story to tell.
My license plate says “Usuthu.” In 1964, Hollywood produced a movie entitled “Zulu,” starring a young and dashing Michael Caine. The film recounted the battle of Rorke’s Drift in which a Zulu impi, fresh on the heels of smashing an English column at Islandhwana (the greatest defeat in history of a European army by an African army, armed mainly with rawhide shields and stabbing spears). A small garrison of troops at the Rorke’s Drift mission was the only force that stood between the rampaging Zulus and the defenseless English farmers in Natal province.
In the movie, the Zulu warriors encircled the English and stood just beyond rifle range. They started rhythmically pounding their shields with their assegais and chanting, “U-su-thu… U-su-thu…” the name of the Zulu royal house. The effect was electrifying. It was one of the great moments in cinematic history.
(As an aside, “Zulu” was typical of Hollywood movies of the distant past, in which the Europeans got all the good parts and the Africans and other indigenous peoples were treated as faceless barbarians. By the time “Zulu Dawn” came along in 1979, Burt Lancaster and Peter O’Toole had to share a little face time with the Zulu characters. And in that battle, Islandhwana, the Zulus kicked white butt — a first for Hollywood! The fascination with Zulus culminated in 1986 with the production of “Shaka Zulu,” a mini-series about Shaka, the founder of the Zulu kingdom, in which white people played only a truly secondary role.)
So, what’s your personalized license plate, and what’s the story behind it?
